Gang lock



May 8, 1962 J. JQRIBBENS ET AL 3,033,634

GANG LOCK Filed April 25, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORS: d4 (05 J.2/555: By fem/A20 6.0mm?

A TTORNEY y 1962 J. J. RIBBENS ETAL GANG LOCK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FiledApril 25, 1960 m m m m JACOB JUQIBBEIVS By ,F/a/AwCDET/IMN' UnitedStates Patent ()fiice Patented May 8, 1962 This invention relates to agang lock for a filing cabinet, bookcase or the like.

In recent years, shelf filing has become popular because of itscompactness. By shelf filing is meant depositing and storing files onfixed shelves in the same manner that books are deposited and stored ina bookcase, instead of depositing and storing the files in drawers whichslide in and out of cabinets. One of the advantages of shelf filing isthat space is not required for pulling out drawers. Also, an entireshelf of files is immediately avail-able for inspect-ion and forselection of desired files.

Because of the popularity of shelf filing certain problems have arisen,among which is the problem of security. Frequently it is necessary ordesirable to lock a filing cabinet so that access by unauthorizedpersons is precluded. For this purpose shelf files have been providedwith doors which are mounted to swing about horizontal axes between openand closed positions. Preferably such doors are also mounted slidably ontracks or rails so that, when they are in open position, they can slideback or retract into the cabinet. g

It is desirable in shelf files equipped with hinged and sliding doors asdescribed, to provide also a convenient locking mechanism for the doors.Each door can be provided with its own lock, but such practice isexpensive and it is also inconvenient because each door must be lockedand unlocked individually.

It is, therefore, desirable to provide a gang locking mechanism forshelf filing cabinets which is capable of looking all doorssimultaneously. In such a mechanism it is desirable to providesimplicity of design and installation, and simple, secure operation.Heretofore, to our knowledge, no satisfactory gang locking mechanism hasbeen provided which is simple in its design, which is easy to installand which is secure in its operation and easy to operate.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide animproved gang locking mechanism for locking the doors of shelf files,bookcases and the like.

It is a particular object of the invention to provide a gang lockingmechanism of the character and for the purpose described which is simplein its design and operation and easy to install.

It is another particular object of the invention to provide a ganglocking mechanism of the character and for the purpose described which,in the event that one or more (but less than all) of the doors of acabinet are closed and locked while one or more doors remain open, willpermit the open door or doors to be closed and locked without thenecessity of unlocking the gang lock and then looking it again.

The above and other objects of the invention will be apparent from theensuing description and the appended claims.

One form of the invention is illustrated by way of example in theaccompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a filing cabinet employing a gang lockmechanism in accordance with the present invention.

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of one of the locking assemblies, therebeing one such assembly for each door of the cabinet.

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view, partly in front elevation and partly invertical section, showing the main operating bar in front elevation, itsconnection to the key operated master lock and its connection to one ofthe locking assemblies. I

FIGURE 4 is a view in side elevation corresponding to the view shown inFIGURE 3 but as seen from the right thereof. 7

FIGURE 5 is a view in transverse section showing the latch member of oneof the locking assemblies inside elevation.

FIGURE 6 is a section taken along the line 6-6 of FIGURE 3. 3

FIGURE 7 is a section taken along the line 7-7 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 8 is a perspective view of the bottom guide member for the mainoperating bar.

Referring now to the drawings and preliminarily to FIGURE 1, a filingcabinet is there shown which is generally designated as 10 and whichincludes side walls 11, a top 11a,a base 11b and shelves 12. Doors 13are provided, each of which has a flush type of handle 14 and an openingat 15 for insertion and exposure of an identification card. Only onedoor is shown, but it will be understood that there is a door 13 foreach shelf 12.

The doors 13 are of the horizontally swinging type. That is to say eachdoor 13 is mounted so that it can swing up about a horizontal axis fromthe closed position occupied by the top door of FIGURE 1 to openposition. Preferably also the doors 13 are mounted by means of glidemembers (one of which is shown at 16 in FIGURE 4) and runners or rails(one of which is shown at 17 in FIGURE 4) so that, after each door isswung up to horizontal open position it can be pushed back into thecabinet to occupy a horizontal retracted position.

The preferred door mounting means is that described in Foote et al.patent application Serial No. 768,726, now

Patent No. 3,014,773, issued Dec. 26, 1961, entitled Door Mounting forFiling Cabinet, filed October 21, 1958. However, any other type of doormounting may be pr vided which permits swinging a door from closedvertical position to horizontal open position.

For the purpose of providing a gang locking mechanism a main operatingbar 18 is provided which is slidably supported at its lower end by abracket 19 which is suitably fixed to the framework of the cabinet as bymeans of a screw or screws, by spot welding or in any other suitablemanner. As will be seen, the bracket 19 has a slot 19a which slidablyreceives the lower end of the main operating bar 18. Referring to FIGURE6, it will be seen that the forward edge of each side wall 11 is formedinto a tubular shape 20, one of which serves as a housing for the bar18. At intervals (i.e., at each shelf level) the main operating bar 18is formed with a slot 21 to receive the tip 22a of a lever 22 whichforms part of a door locking assembly 25. The door locking assembly 25is best shown in FIGURE 2.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURES 3 and 4, a barrel type lock26 is provided which is fitted into the framework of the cabinet andwhich is locked in place by a retainer member 27. The lock 26 iskey-operated, it is a purchased item which may be of any suitable typeand it operates in an eccentric manner whereby, as it is rotated in onedirection or the other, it either lifts or lowers a lock bolt 28' (whichis a part of the lock) which in turn is connected to the main operatingbar 18 by means of a suitable rivet or pin 29. It will, therefore, beapparent that by operating the lock 26 with its key, the main operatingbar 18is pulled up or down depending upon the direction of rotation ofthe lock.

Referring now more particularly to FIGURE 5, each shelf 12 has adownwardly extending flange 30 at its forward edge which is formed witha slot 31 through which protrudes a latch member 32 which is fixed toone end I 3 p of a shaft 33. Referring now more particularly to FIG- URE2 the latch member 32 and the shaft 33 form parts of the above-mentionedlatching assembly 25, there being one such assembly for each door ateach shelf level. As will be seen the latch member 32 is fixed to oneend of the shaft 33 and the lever 22 is fixed to the other end of theshaft 33. The shaft 33 passes rotatably through support brackets 34which are formed by bending inwardly the opposite ends of a mountingstrip 35 to which are welded nuts 36 in registry with holes 37. It is bymeans of the nuts 36 and holes 37, and also screws 38 shown in FIGURE 1,that the entire assembly 25 is mounted on the flange 3%) of itsrespective shelf 12.

Referring again to FIGURES '5 and also to FIGURE 7, it will be seen thateach of the latch members 32 is notched at 45 and that it has a noseportion 46, the outer end of which has an inwardly and downwardlysloping cam surface at 46a. As shown in FIGURES and 7 the correspondingor mating door 13 has a horizontally extending flange portion 47 whichis bent upwardly at 48. The portion 48 is depressed inwardly or recessedto form a lip 43 for a purpose explained hereinafter.

It will be understood that a latching assembly is mounted on each shelf12 for the respective door 13, and that the lever 22 of each latchingassembly 25 has its tip 22a received in a slot 21 in the main operatingbar 18. It will, therefore, be apparent that, as the bar 18 is moved upby means of a key and the lock 26, all of the levers 22 will be rotatedupwardly, thereby rotating the respective shafts 33 in clockwisedirection as viewed in FIGURES 4 and 5. Therefore, the several latchmembers 32 will be rotated from the locking position shown in FIGURE 5to a release position wherein the nose 46 of each latch member clearsits lip 49. Therefore, all of the doors 13, assuming that they have beenin closed, locked position, will be unlocked and can be opened. When itis desired to lock the doors 13 thay are pulled out and dropped fromtheir horizontal, retracted positions to their vertical, closedpositions so that the lips 49 are adjacent the flanges of the respectiveshelves 12 as shown in FIGURE 5. The lock 26' is then rotated to itslocking position, whereby the main operating bar 18 is lowered androtates the several levers 22 and with them the several shafts 33 andlatching members 32 in counterclockwise direction (as viewed in FIGURE5) so as to assume the locking position shown in FIGURE 5. The doors 13are, therefore, securely locked in closed position.

It is an additional advantage of the design thus described andillustrated that the lips 49 are inset. This results in an abuttingrelation between the inset lips 49 and the shelf flanges 30 of therespective shelves 12 so that it is dithcult or impossible for anunauthorized person to open a door by inserting a knife blade or othersimilar instrument.

Another important advantage of the design and construction described andillustrated results from the cam surface 46a at the outer end of each ofthe latch members 32. As frequently happens, it may be desired to haveone or more of the doors 13 open while others are closed and locked.With prior gang locks of which we have knowledge, if it is desired toclose and lock the open door or doors it is necessary to unlock theclosed and locked doors, then close the open door and then operate thelocking mechanism to lock all of the doors again. This involves extratime and effort. Moreover it may lead to oversight. For example, aperson operating under these circumstances may neglect to unlock themaster lock before closing the open doors, which will, therefore, remainclosed but unlocked.

With the present invention this is avoided. Assume that one or more ofthe doors 13 are closed and locked but that one of them is open. Itslatch member 32 will be in the locking position shown in FIGURE 5 withits notch straddling the respective flange 30 and its nose 4 portion 46on the outside of the flange. When the respective door 13 is pulled outand dropped its lip 49 will strike the cam surface 46a thereby exertinga force which will rotate the latch member 32 in clockwise direction asviewed in FIGURE 5, Le, toward unlocked position. Referring now toFIGURE 2 it will be seen that the shaft 33 is relatively long and has arelatively small diameter. Therefore it is twisted by the torsionalforce thus exerted sufficientlyto rotate its latch member 32 inclockwise direction so that it will clear the lip 49. The door 13, Willtherefore, close completely and the resilience of the shaft 33 willrotate it back to its normal position, thereby locking the dropped,closed door.

It will, therefore, be apparent that a novel and very advantageous ganglocking mechanism is provided for a shelf type filing cabinet, abookcase or any other similar type of structure. It will also beapparent that the 1atching mechanism can be used with advantage in acabinet having only a single door.

We claim:

1. In a cabinet of the character described comprising a pair ofhorizontally spaced side walls, a plurality of vertically spaced shelveseach extending between the side walls and a door for each shelf,pivotally supported to swing between a substantially horizontal openposition providing access to the respective shelf and a closedsubstantially vertical position providing front access to such shelf,each said shelf having at its front edge an upright flange and each doorhaving adjacent its lower edge an inwardly projecting latch-receivingmember which lies adiacent said flange when the door is in closedposition, the improvement which comprises: Gang locking means in theform of a locking unit for each shelf-and-door combination, said lockingunit comprising the following:

(1) a latching member cooperable with said latchreceiving member to lockthe two members together; (2) a shaft aflixed to said latching member torotate the same between a release position disengaged from and a lockingposition engaged with the respective latch receiving member, said shaftlying adjacent and behind the flange of the respective shelf;

(3) a pair of spaced brackets rotatably supporting said shaft andaflixed to said flange;

(4) an upright, reciprocable operating member supported in said cabinetadjacent a side thereof; and

(5) means operatively connecting said operating memher with each of saidshafts to rotate the same in unison as said operating member isreciprocated.

2. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein the support for each shaft is in theform of a bar extending from approximately said operating member to thecenter of the cabinet, and said brackets are affixed to the ends of saidbar, said bar being affixed to the respective shelf flange and saidlatching member being aflixed to said shaft at approximately the centerof the respective shelf.

3. The cabinet of claim 9 wherein the side wall of said cabinet adjacentsaid operating member is formed at its front edge with an inwardly andrearwardly, angle-shaped extension forming a vertical, channel-likerecess, and said operating member is located within and is concealed bysaid recess.

4. A cabinet of the character described comprising:

(1) a pair of spaced vertical side walls;

(2) a plurality of spaced horizontal shelves at their ends to said sidewalls;

(3) at least one of said side walls having its front edge turnedinwardly and then rearwardly to form a channel-like recess which isconcealed from v1evv. from the front of the cabinet; (4) each said shelfhaving its front edge turned down to form a vertical flange;

(5) a door for each shelf mounted to swing between an open, horizontalposition exposing its respective shelf and a closed, vertical positionconcealing and closing said shelf;

(6) each said door having its lower edge turned inwardly and thenupwardly to form a channel;

(7) a locking unit for each shelf including a mounting strip extendingalong and afiixed to the inner surface of the respective shelf flange,said strip being turned inwardly at its ends to form inwardly projectingmounting brackets;

(8) a shaft extending 'between, supported by and rotatable in saidbrackets;

(9) a latch member affixed to the inner end of said shaft and cooperablewith the channel portion of the respective door to latch the same inclosed position;

( 10) a vertical, reciprocable operating member located in saidchannel-like recess and extending substantially the height of thecabinet; and

(11) means aflixing the outer end of each said shaft to said operatingmember whereby, when the operating member is moved in one direction saidshafts are rotated to disengage their latch members from the respectivedoors and, when moved in the opposide direction, said shafts are rotatedto engage their latch members with the respective door.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS199,383 Steinhoif Jan. 22, 1878 410,378 Rodeheaver Sept. 3, 18891,073,274 Millice Sept. 16, 1913 1,109,086 Stuck Sept. 1, 1914 1,859,789Poeter May 24, 1932 2,532,942 Reimer Dec. 5, 1950 2,867,841 Baldauf Jan.13, 1959 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PatentNo. 3,033,634 May 8, 1962 Jacob J. Ribbens er. a1.

error appears in the above numbered pat- It is hereby certified that tthe said Letters Patent should read as em; requiring correction and thecorrected below.

Column 4, lines 49 and 55, for the claim reference numeral "9", eachoccurrence, read 1 Signed and sealed this 22nd day of October 1963.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWIN L. REYNOLDS ERNEST W. SWIDER Attesting Officer Ac Li ngCommissioner of Patents

